July 2017- Trip to Utah

July was a very busy month. I like being busy with adventures and activities. It was officially summer and warm. The pool was open and we went every possible day for a couple hours, hitting the park next to it after. 

Our biggest event in July was our trip to Utah. It had been over two years since we had been back to Utah and seen family. We had two nephews we had never seen and my family hadn't seen Maya. Adrian was able to get time off for a week so we traveled to Utah for a week. I thought about staying longer there without him, but there's no way I could travel by myself with all the kids. We left Friday after Adrian got off work. We took Uber to the airport. Maya got carsick and threwup a little. No big deal really. Going into the airport was hectic. We had 3 kids, 3 car seats and 2 luggage bags. We laughed that there was absolutely no way I could do it by myself. After we checked in we had 2 hours to kill. We took a red eye flight hoping the kids would sleep while on the plane. Haha, no such luck. We even dosed them all with benedryl hoping to induce sleep. But, as luck goes, they had a paradoxical effect that kept them awake. Malachi slept for a few hours. Levi watched movies all night long and Maya bounced on my lap all night. She wasn't grumpy from being tired either, just awake for 18 hours straight.
When we landed in Las Vegas it felt so hot. We rented a car and drove 2 hours north. We were so drowsy. We had to pull over and walk around for a bit to wake up. Once we arrived in Cedar at 5 am we put the kids to bed and hit the sack ourself for a quick 3 hour nap. When we woke up we realized the boys never actually went to sleep. They went right back up stairs and my parents played with them. How is it possible to not sleep all night is beyond me.
That morning we had a DeLange family reunion at Sand Hollow Reservoir. It was so fun to catch up with family. All throughout the whole week we played hard and had so much fun being around family.

Here's an update in pictures. 

We really enjoyed being in the backyard, that is until the mosquitoes came out and were the worst they've been in 40 years. 

Maya so cute in her overalls.

They boys have their carseats ready to head to Utah.

We went up to Woods Ranch and took the kids fishing at Kids Pond. It was a bit rainy and chilly when we arrived, but the rain soon stopped. The fishing was phenomenal. There was a fish caught at least every 3 minutes between all the poles we had out. The kids and adults had so much fun.
Here's Levi with his first fish.

Malachi fishing.

Maya enjoyed being out.

Malachi's first caught fish.

It was chilly and Cari opened the back of her car and produced a jacket/towel/blanket for each of us to warm up with. It reminded me of Mary Poppin's purse.

Cambree and Malachi taking shelter from the rain.

We also went up to the ranch for a day. We caught frogs, looked for horny toads, swam and rode the 4-wheelers. Reminded me much of my childhood. I could not catch a frog for the life of me. I remember as a kid it was not hard at all, but I missed every frog I came across.
The boys loved the mud.

The boys each caught a frog and held onto it in a bucket all day.

Levi, Malachi and Cambree screaming. Cam looks like Maya so much here.

4-wheeler ride.

Grandpa rode with Malachi and Mason.

Me, Cari and Cam, Jana and Benson.

Malachi loved sitting on the 4-wheeler at home. Grandpa even taught him how to turn the key and start it. Malachi, Mason and Cambree.

Maya enjoying playing around the yard.

At the ranch we went for a swim in the lake. Even though it was July the water was still cold. We paddled out in the paddle boat.

Malachi was the first to jump in. Without hesitation I might add.

We got pulled on a tube by the paddle boat.

Cari and I jumped in as well.

Levi, Malachi, Cari and I.

Malachi played the longest in the water. We all had a fun time.

Our first day in Utah at Sand Hollow for the DeLange reunion. The sun was hot, water warm and it was a good time. We played on the shore, rode the jet skis and went out on the boats. 

My grandparents Koami and Wayne DeLange.

Jana with Levi and Maya.

Another day in Utah we visited Stacia and Jed's farm. They had pigs with little piglets.

After a visit to the farm we hiked in Kolob Canyon. Beautiful.

We hiked Taylor's Creek. We walked up the creek the whole time. We caught little tiny baby frogs and tadpoles. It was so fun. Reminded me of doing it when I was young. It was hot and the water warm and was fun to search for and catch frogs.

Cari and Adrian.

Adrian and Jana.

Levi even caught a water snake.

The kids played in the pools along the way.

My dad and I.

Dad, Cari, me and Jana.

Me and the hubs.

We hiked for a couple hours and only did ½ mile round trip. We just enjoyed ourselves and played and relaxed. It was so great to be back to our old stompin' grounds.

Playing in the ditch in front of my parents house was a daily occurrence. The kids loved to float their boats down. The ditch gets mossy and slick and the kids slid down too.

Another day in Utah we had family pictures done at SUU. Adrian took a lot on his phone as well.
All the sisters. Cari, Stacia, me, LeAnn and Jana.

Grandparents with grandkids.

Little Maya.

Cari and I.

Stacia and Jed. Missing their son Easton in the picture.

Grandpa and Benson.

Cambree.

Jared and LeAnn with Kendi and Aydri.

Jana and Joe with Benson. Missing Mason here.

My parents, Darryl and Jackie.

Big boy Levi.

Our family picture.

How I love my man.

Maya with Papa.

Handsome Malachi.

I love these boys. They're so much fun.

Grandpa made the boys bug boxes in Utah. We brought them home and caught fireflies in them.

Back home from Utah tromping around the yard.

When we got back home to NY I wanted to walk on the beach one Sunday afternoon. Going to the beach with 3 kids is a lot of work. I never took them by myself. We went to Jones Beach on the southshore. It's more sandy than the north shore beaches.

And the boys couldn't resist getting wet.

Adrian back at work in the city.

Priesthood activity fishing.

June 25, 2017-Last week of School

This past week was the last week of school. We are now officially in summer vacation. We had our first pool day and are looking forward to going there several times a week. Leavittown has free pools for residents around town. We have a pool at the top of our street. 

Adrian: Adrain had a very busy week. He easily commutes 3 hours a day. He often has to go to a derm clinic for the morning and then drive to another clinic for the afternoon. The commute is hard. It's not a stready easy going drive. It's busy traffic with reckless, aggressive drivers around. He also accidentally blew a fuse on his car a week ago and spent the week commuting without air conditioning. And then, the passenger window broke and he couldn't roll it down for fresh air. We did get the AC fixed yesterday so now he won't be melting. The kids only saw him 2-3 hours during the whole workweek. 

Tammy: I got a new calling to be 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency. I will admit I was a bit sad to leave my old calling of teaching Relief Society. I taught Relief Society once a month for about 6 months and it was my first calling teaching adults. I felt like I really grew in becoming more comfortable teaching adults and by the last lesson I gave I felt like I was able to get up and lead a discussion rather than a prepared word for word lesson of the topic. I exercise about 3 days a week. A few days ago the landlord put pesticide on the grass without me knowing and I walked on it barefoot. I got sick the next day and I believe it was from being exposed to the pesticide. I'm quite upset he didn't tell me he did it, but at least the kids had shoes on, which was seriously a first. 

Levi: Levi had last week of Kindergarten. He is so excited to have summer vacation and play all day, but he is sad to leave his teacher and friends. His teacher Mrs. Minogue was great. Here's last day of school pictures. 

 

 

Here's some art work from school. He learned so much over the school year. He can read small sentences and can write phonetically. I'm so proud of how he's grown. 

 

He is so good to take care of Maya. They both love to play and laugh. Here Levi naturally helped her read a book. 

 

Malachi: Malachi hangs out with Maya and me all day. He helps me with chores and we play games. Lately he's been getting up out bed after I put everyone down for the night. He comes downstairs all sad saying he needs me to snuggle with him. I think his love language is physical touch so I usually try to lay by him, scratch his back and sing him a few more songs. 

Maya: She's been cutting more teeth and has been quite clingy. I don't mind unless I've got some things which really need to be done. She is so fun and playful. Always smiley. She climbs on the chairs then into the table. She climbed on Thomas, put her hands in the air and said "look, look." I never get her off Thomas, she can safely get down by herself.

 

Malachi put putty in Maya's hair. I. Oils not get it out. I thought I was going to have to cut it. But, I put soap in it and was able to comb it out. 

She loves to run around outside. I love how my backyard is fenced and I can let her run loose without any problems. 

Here's our garden this week. Things are growing great. We just put up tomato cages and a trellis for one of the cucumbers. We also learned we have caterpillars eating our brussell sprout leaves. We picked off about 30 in one day. I need to come up with a solution to save the brussell sprouts.